Gopher Hockey Freshmen Return; Lead Minnesota Over No. 9 Clarkson

As a rule, Minnesota men’s hockey freshmen cannot talk to the press during the month of October.

They can, however, let their sticks do the talking.

There is no rule against freshmen contributing on the ice, which was the case Friday for the Gophers in a late October home victory over a top-10 opponent. Freshmen forwards Scott Reedy and Casey Mittelstadt played major roles in No. 7 Minnesota’s 3-1 win over No. 9 Clarkson as both returned from missing time with injuries.

Reedy broke open a scoreless game in the second period with his second career goal. Mittelstadt, meanwhile, assisted on the play. He finished with two assists for his first official multi-point game.

“They’re obviously important players. It’s important to get them back,” said sophomore Rem Pitlick, who scored a goal for Minnesota. “We have guys who stepped up and played well in their spots, but you go down two good players like that it’s always tough and to have them back was great.”

The Gophers (4-3-0, 1-1-0-0 Big Ten) tried to ease back Mittelstadt and Reedy into the lineup. Mittelstadt, held out of Saturday’s loss to North Dakota, was placed on a wing with Tyler Sheehy and Pitlick in order to have fewer responsibilities. That didn’t last long. He eventually went back to center.

Facing a Clarkson (4-2-1, 0-0-0 ECAC) team that entered the weekend third nationally in team defense while having given up a total of eight goals in six games, the Gophers focused on creating quality chances against Golden Knights goaltender Jake Kielly.

“That’s how you score goals. If we think we’re going to be shooting pucks from the top of the circle tomorrow night and expect to have any success, we’re not going to,” Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said. “Sometimes you need to shoot to get a second chance opportunity.”

Kielly, an Eden Prairie native, shut down rebound early opportunities. The sophomore helped Clarkson stop a 35-second two-man advantage and turned away Minnesota’s first 17 shots before Reedy came through.

Back in the lineup after a three-game absence, Reedy crashed the net once Mittelstadt made a spin move on the boards. The rebound went to him and the Prior Lake native put the puck in the back of the net.

Pitlick doubled Minnesota’s lead in a similar fashion with his third goal of the season. Three minutes later, Brent Gates Jr. snapped an 0-14 power play skid for the Gophers with a one-timer past Kielly, who finished with 25 saves.

“It was nice. We’ve been struggling a little bit numbers-wise, but we’ve been working on it and we felt one coming so it felt really good to finally get one,” said Gates.

Minnesota goaltender Eric Schierhorn made 26 saves on Friday. The junior came within 1:18 of his 10th career shutout before Clarkson’s Nic Pierog put the Golden Knights on the board. Schierhorn and Minnesota’s defense did not allow Clarkson many rebound opportunities.

“Eric’s certainly doing his job on the back end there,” Lucia said. When we do make a mistake he’s been there so far to cover it up.”

With the win, the Gophers are 5-0-0 against Clarkson all-time. Minnesota and the Golden Knights complete the two-game nonconference series Saturday evening at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports North Plus.


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